Naruto: The Last
by AkitoAC
Summary: Starts off on a remake of chapter 699. Naruto attempts to get closer to Sakura, but she is hesitant, since she knows Hinata's feelings for him and feels like she should support Hinata because she feels like Hinata is more worthy of Naruto's affection than she herself is. Also, the Otsutsuki clan surfaces to purge the ninja who abused the privilege of the chakra given to them.


**I waited for the 2 last chapters to write the story, but personally, I didn't like how it went down. The pairings were all over the place and rushed and plenty of things were unsolved, like Team Taka's whereabouts as well as Orochimaru and Kabuto. And Kishimoto failed to develop Sakura the way that was NEEDED. Personally, it felt like a whole fanservice chapter instead of actually focusing on development. Plus there are interview translations that I really hope are misinterpreted because it made Kishimoto sound sexist or just plain HORRIBLE at writing females or romance. So this series will start with a remake of chapter 699, original story in between and an eventual remake of 700.**

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**Chapter 1: The Seal of Reconciliation **

Sakura carried the fatigued Kakashi to the area where Naruto and Sasuke ran to begin their final battle. Sakura saw her two teammates beaten down, lying on their backs. "There!" She yelled out.

Kakashi struggled to get the words out of his mouth. He could hardly stand, let alone, speak. "So, they came here, huh...". Sakura jumped from rock to rock down the ledge and saw that their arms had been severed much to her astonishment.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura saw how their blood intertwined. No one needed to tell her what had happened. By the looks of it, she already knew the whole story. It was finally over. But at the cost of a severed arm. She delicately moved up to the arms and hovered her hands over them, beginning to heal them. "Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Sakura heard his words of enthusiasm. She felt like he was only being strong for her sake. But another part of her felt like he had finally been relieved of a 4 year burden. Her conflicted feelings made the tears well up in her eyes, but she held back.

"Sakura, I..." Sasuke tried to speak with her. Sakura closed her eyes hard, as if trying to block out the man who caused her so much grief. "Don't, I need to concentrate..." Sasuke watched her. He could see her hands trembling slightly. The feelings that Sakura poured out for years were about to come out in it's fury, but she didn't want to show it.

"I'm sorry..." Sasuke whispered loudly.

"I said don't..." Sakura kept her head down. Naruto looked into Sakura's eyes. Sasuke tried looking into her eyes, but her hair blocked the way. "If you apologize...then I'm going to have to forgive you..." Naruto and Sasuke watched Sakura's tears flow down. They looked at each other and smiled. They had the mutual thought that Sakura will eventually come around, because she's just a kind girl at heart. The thought of laughing came up in their minds, and though they tried to mask it, the giggles came pouring out. Sakura lifted her head with the visible tears and gently hit Naruto and Sasuke after they sat up.

After that, it was just a talk. A talk between the team that had been broken for years. Kakashi watched from the ledge and remembered the "bunch of idiots" that would prank him. He could feel the tears coming as well, and as a result, hid his left eye. "They've...finally returned."

After a small little talk between friends, they went to release the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Naruto and Sasuke used their only hands left to create the seal to release it. And as everyone was freed, sighs of relief, sounds of confusion, and cheers of celebration occurred throughout the world. And Sasuke, the one who saw didn't understand Naruto's words of brotherhood toward him in their first battle, now realizes what he meant by that.

After things settled, then came a time of mourning of the lives already lost in the war. Particularly the noble death of the bird who had finally been freed from his cage, Neji Hyuuga. Naruto stood beside the crying Hinata and comforted her in her moment of need. Naruto walked forward as Hinata followed behind him slowly, looking down, still mourning.

"He's still here, y'know." Hinata looked up. Naruto stopped walking and turned around, facing the Hinata that was about to come to tears again. "He's still here with us. And always will be." He tapped his heart. "In here." Hinata came to tears once again.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun..." Naruto walked up to her and used his free arm to hold her shoulder.

"Neji's job is finished, and he fulfilled it without regret. Now, he would like it if you did the same. And continue to carry out _**your**_ mission." Hinata wept for a few more seconds, then wiped her tears. She gave Naruto a confident smile and thanked him again.

A few weeks had passed, and Kakashi had been announced as the Sixth Hokage. Him and Sakura stood by the Konoha entrance, seeing Sasuke off. "Well, I'll be honest with you. Under normal circumstances, you'd be imprisoned for life, worst case scenario, the death sentence. But the only reason you've been pardoned is because your assistance in undoing the infinite Tsukuyomi."

Try not to forget however, that all of this is thanks to Naruto. I mean, he is the hero of this war and I did put in a few comments as Sixth Hokage...and as your teacher. So **please** take it easy this time and don't go crazy on me. It'll be _**my**_ head they take this time.

Sasuke apologized for the trouble he caused Kakashi. "You're leaving already? Lady Tsunade was about to finish the prosthetic arm from Hashirama's cells." Sakura persuaded slightly. Sasuke shook his head.

"I shut my eyes to the world for some time. I only sought my own selfish desires. Now, I want to see the world...and somehow I feel like I'll be able to see it better this time." Sasuke looked at Sakura. She appeared to be pained in the face.

"I don't know when I'll see you again...so I guess I'll just say it now..I forgive you." Sakura smiled lightly at Sasuke. He smiled back and Kakashi looked at how much Sakura has matured and smiled through his mask. Sasuke thanked her and walked off while they stood by the entrance until he was out of sight. Kakashi glanced back at Sakura who watched Sasuke's back. "Y'know, Sensei..." Kakashi's eyes opened a bit. "When Sasuke was lost and thought his only way out was to get stronger alone, he appeared behind me and said 'Thank you'. Today, he looked me in the eye and said those same words. I think that was the first time he ever really _**did**_ look me in the eye."

"Sakura...you.." Kakashi stopped his sentence but only because he had been interrupted by Sakura's continuation of speech.

"When I woke up from his genjutsu, I asked myself 'Why didn't he just kill me?' He tried so many times before and if it wasn't for you, Captain Yamato, or Naruto I would have been dead by now. I still don't know the answer." The area was silent for a few seconds, and Kakashi just listened to the words that were like feelings that wanted to be expressed, but never found the words to do so before. Kakashi felt the need to inject his thoughts on her feelings.

"Sasuke has always been more of a 'show' than 'tell'." Sakura looked up at his face, completely focused on that sentence."I could be wrong, but I think he wanted you to let go."

"Let go?" Sakura rose an eyebrow.

"When you fell unconscious, I told Sasuke about your undying love for him. How you loved him through everything, even when it hurt unbearably. Whatever you saw in that genjutsu, I guess he wanted to you know that he isn't the one for you...He wanted to find a way for you to finally let go of the love you held on to. He wanted to stop hurting you...though it was a cruel way of doing so."

Sakura turned back. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen anymore. "Letting go isn't easy. When you're someone like me who's devoted their life to loving someone...but maybe it wasn't love at all..." Kakashi remained silent. "For as long as I can remember, when I held on to the thought of Sasuke, the only 'Sasuke' that popped up in my head was the one from back when team 7 was whole. I held on to that childish crush and maybe I assumed that it was love. Who knows? We throw around the word 'love' so loosely anyway...But...I was oblivious to it before...but **_theirs_** might be genuine..." At that moment, the thought of Naruto came into her mind. And her face became noticeably depressed-like when Hinata popped into her head as well.

As Sasuke walked, he saw Naruto leaning on a tree.

"I didn't expect to see you here..." Sasuke started up a conversation. Naruto didn't say a word. But he held out his hand. Sasuke looked down. "Again? With these things..."

"I'm returning it to you...it _**is**_ yours after all."

"I'll keep it...until we really settle things between us." Naruto smiled at Sasuke competitively and he smiled back.

"I'll be waiting..." Sasuke took the headband that Naruto kept for years. The last exchange between brothers until everything else begins to change. Back at the village, Tsunade had just given Naruto is new arm." He flexed it for a while to get control over it.

"Take it easy for a while. The arm is still new so you have to get accustomed to it." Tsunade told him.

"It looks pretty ugly the way it doesn't match my skin tone."

"I'll bandage it up for you later." Sakura reassured him.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" A day later, Naruto and Sakura walked down the streets of Konoha. "Y'know, Sakura-chan..." She looked at him, wondering what was on his mind.

"When I fought Sasuke...he called me out on something." She rose an eyebrow. "He told me that my shadow clone jutsu was my weakness...that it shows me just how lonely I was." Her eyes opened and she stopped walking, looking at him. Her face became pained from that statement and she remembered the time when no one looked his way. "For a time, he was right. The shadow clone jutsu was my way of coping with my loneliness." Sakura looked down. She didn't like hearing him talking about his struggles, because it was too painful to listen to.

"I've been alone for as long as I could remember, but then I realized. I have my friends." He turned to Sakura, who looked up at him. "And I finally realized what I want to protect." He looked up at the Hokage Stone Faces and rose an arm toward his father's face. "My dad was strong because he knew what he had to protect." He clenched his fist tight. "And with you and everyone else supporting me, I _**will**_ become Hokage someday...and I _**will**_ protect you."

Sakura's eyes widened even more and Naruto gave her the brightest smile with light rosy cheeks. She hesitated, but couldn't resist the urge to smile. The first smile that really moved her heart. "**_Thank you...Naruto._**" She said to herself.

**Next Chapter: Winter Festival..!**

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**There you go! It's not perfect of course but I believe things should have been somewhere around the lines of this in chapter 699. I've been a big NaruSaku fan from the start so I felt a bit cheated after things ended up the way they did, though I'm over it now. I felt things should have been more open ended in 699 than decided. Sakura should have taken the first steps to letting go of Sasuke and Naruto should have worked up the courage to lead himself into a subtle confession after everything was over.**


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